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News Just-in...keep watching the box!

Years ago in another life I interviewed a man about China. It was a live interview with a Mr Smith and it went well, he spoke eloquently and concisely. At the end of our three minute spot I introduced a taped report on another subject and turned to him to say thanks.

"Not at all," he said. "But just two problems: one, I'm not Mr Smith; and two, I know absolutely nothing about China."

The producers had brought in the wrong man but the poor chap had felt himself unable -- in the rarified atmosphere of a television studio -- to correct me when I had first turned to him and asked him what he thought about Comrade Deng's economic reforms. He had been due to talk a few minutes later about the American electoral process, an interview which, as they say in these circumstances, we were unable to bring you.

But who cares ? As with so much that goes wrong in television I doubt anyone (expect perhaps the real Mr Smith, as he watched the screen in the waiting room outside the studio) was aware of anything amiss. TV news -- even serious TV news -- is a blur of faces and pictures. If you watch it for long enough it might take you a few points up the scale from ignorance to enlightenment but only a few points. As a source of information it's better than the Sun but it isn't even on the same planet as The Economist.

Or on the same planet as this medium. Because television is essentially passive; it washes over you. It demands nothing of you expect that you turn it on and hang around in front of it. Try logging on to the Net and doing nothing. It doesn't work because the Net only works when you do. You have to ask for things; you have to take an interest in what's on the screen. Which is why TV news people are so energised by the possibilities opened up by Web sites like this one; at last an audience that doesn't just sit there but demands information. We have the technology, you have the curiosity; it's a match made in heaven.

There's a catch, though, and it's a serious one. If you only find out about the things you ask about, only receive information when you demand it on subjects you choose yourself, how on earth will you ever learn about the wider world? A world of information and entertainment that lives outside your current knowledge, that you haven't programmed your news searches to tell you about because you didn't even know it existed.

On television, that world reaches you. OK, not every day or every week but just occasionally in the blur of faces and pictures you will see something that interests you in spite of yourself. It might be a piece on car crime in Bristol, on famine in Afghanistan, on llama baiting in Chester (don't write in, I made that up) but whatever it is, you didn't know you were interested until you were interested.

That's the problem with 'news you can use' and all the gizmos that in years to come will enable you to tailor your access to information to suit your prejudices/lifestyle. You are going to miss out bigtime on the joys of being told about stuff you had always thought was boring until you saw it on Breakfast News!

A cyberbulletin programmed to lead with the weather in East Cheam and include only good news, or news about the Isle of Wight, or news about cats, is a sad and uneducated thing, even if it's presented by a virtual Jeremy Paxman.

So do yourselves a favour and keep watching the box even if it's in the corner of the screen now. Don't use the technology of the future to make yourself as ignorant about the world as your distant pre-mass media ancestors were. Stay in touch ! And if you know anything about China give us a call, we might need to interview you. About Greece.

Summaries

In this section

Diana trademark to be protected
Mystery deepens over missing Luxor victim
Miners' jobs under threat
'No colour bar' for judges
Aids checks for mothers-to-be
Diana's grave to be fenced in
Country folk unite against traffic
Full Monty goes all the way (From Business)
MPs vote to ban hunting
Blair commits troops to Bosnia
Ireland to release Bloody Sunday dossier
Thrust breaks up under mountain of debt
Elton John empties closet
A wired Christmas from the Queen (From Sci/Tech)
Jowell revises Formula One job threat total
Experts to examine German warplane 'time capsule'

UK Contents

• Politics